Our twelve-player squad arrived Thursday night in Fresno, got a good night’s rest and then started the tournament this morning with a first round match against Clovis East.  Clovis East is the reigning 2022 CIF Central – Division 1 champions.  This was also their home courts.  None the less, we gave them a run.  Though we lost the match 1-5, the score doesn’t reflect how close we were to pulling off an upset.  Three of those losing matches were decided in a third set tiebreaker.  Luke Brightbill and Riley Bonner had a nice straight set win in the #2 doubles line.  Unfortunately, we suffered a critical blow when #1 Tyler Toni had to pull out of his match with hamstring discomfort.  We are hoping this is minor, but he sat out of the second match and we’ll monitor tomorrow.

In the second match, we played Head Royce.  Head Royce was last year’s DAL Division 2 champions – another very tough rival.  We went down 1-5, but not without a fight.  Our #2 doubles team in that match, James Cortez and Riley Bonner, split sets and then pulled off a clutch 10-8 tiebreaker win.  #1 doubles team Aaron Brown and Ace Reeder also split sets but came up just a little short in the tiebreaker losing 10-5.  #3 doubles team Liam Fitzpatrick and Ben Reinsberg made a great comeback but were edged 6-4, 7-6.  Again, we suffered an injury.  Liam had some calf discomfort and we’re also monitoring him going into day two.

The boys are gaining momentum and spirits are still high as we approach day two.  The two matches for tomorrow are as follows; 10:30AM against San Luis Obispo and then 2:30PM against Turlock.

All of the match scores for today are below.  The format is 3 singles and 3 doubles.

Match 1 Against Clovis

Singles

V. Patel (C) defeats #1 Tyler Toni (A) 6-1, 4-1 retired

R. King (C) defeats #2 Nick Owens (A) 6-2, 4-6, 10-8

C. Castillo (C) defeats #3 Tucker Brewer (A) 6-1, 3-6, 10-7

Doubles

O. Johnson/J. Maranan (C) defeats #1 Aaron Brown/Ace Reeder (A) 6-2, 5-7, 11-9

#2 Luke Brightbill/Riley Bonner (A) defeats T. Gibson/A. Lang (C) 6-3, 6-4

K. Gilbert/N. Singh (C) defeats #3 Sammy Foster/Will Lofting (A) 7-6 (7), 6-2

Match 2 Against Head Royce

Singles

Mike Evans (HR) defeats #1 Nick Owens (A) 6-4, 6-2

Dylon Chen (HR) defeats #2 Tucker Brewer (A) 7-5, 6-3

Dylan D (HR) defeats #3 Luke Brightbill (A) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles

Sahm T/Harrison S (HR) defeats #1 Aaron Brown/Ace Reeder (A) 4-6, 6-1, 10-5

#2 James Cortez/Riley Bonner (A) defeats Jared Chin/Graydon T (HR) 6-3, 2-6, 10-8

Ameen B/Patrick I (HR) defeats #3 Liam Fitzpatrick/Ben Reinsberg (A) 6-4, 7-6